The Cobalt Rhythm Kings! 
The Cobalt Rhythm Kings!
I T'S T R U E ! 
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The Cobalt Rhythm Kings were invited to perform Oct. 7, 2005 at the respected King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas -- the Mississippi River Delta home at various times of Robert Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson II and, for a time, Muddy Waters !
(The Festival, which took place Oct. 6-8, 2005, was forced because of a nasty copyright battle to change its name to the Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival.)
Whatever you want to call it, it's one of the world's leading blues festivals and it was a total blast to be part of it!
The Kings performed as part of the festival's Emerging Artists Program on the festival's Alltel Emerging Artist Stage from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday night, Oct. 7.
Wendell -- longtime Cobalt bassist Wendell Jones -- was in the wedding party of a wedding in Connecticut that weekend, so our bassist in Helena was our good friend, Andy Karlok.
Andy, a frequent Cobalt sub, is one of the top blues bassists in Connecticut, currently playing with River City Slim and the Zydeco Hogs. His many past gigs have included touring with Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, backing former Howlin' Wolf guitar player Hubert Sumlin and "King of the Blues Shuffle" Sam Lay on Northeast gigs and playing regularly with Garry and the Moodswingers, the Electric Logs and, more recently, New Orleans-style party band Dr. Ya Ya's Gumbo Party.
Tom Nagy ( www.tommynagy.net ) was our drummer for the King Biscuit Fest trip. Tom was The Cobalt Rhythm Kings' full-time drummer for about a year in the late 1990s and is a frequent sub these days when regular drummer George Mastrogiannis can't do a gig. Tom also plays regularly with rising star singer/songwriter Lucinda ( lucindaworld.com ) as well as with DW Armstrong and the Rent Party Band and The Greg Sherrod Band, among others.
THE KING BISCUIT LINEUP also included the great James Cotton, Bobby Blue Bland, Bobby Rush, Irma Thomas, Honeyboy Edwards (with our fellow New Haven bluesman Rocky Lawrence joining him!), Pinetop Perkins & Bob Margolin, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Billy Branch & The Sons of Blues, John Primer, Mark Hummel with James Harman and Little Sonny, Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets featuring Sam Myers, Lonnie Shields, Henry Gray, The Kentucky Headhunters, Walter "Wolfman" Washington, Willie King, Otis Taylor, Little Charlie & The Nightcats, Paul Geremia, Fruteland Jackson, Cedell Davis, Drink Small, Wallace Coleman and Arthur Williams.
In short: IT ROCKED!
Want to go next year? The festival takes place each October in Helena, about half an hour from Muddy Waters' Rolling Fork, Mississippi birthplace and is FREE. Memphis is the closest airport, although better deals are available into Little Rock if you don't mind driving a little farther. Accommodations right in Helena book up early, but chances are you can find a reasonably priced room in Clarksdale or Tunica, MS or Forrest City, AR, among other places.
Maybe we'll see you there next fall!
Go to www.kingbiscuitfest.org for more information.
In the meantime, please help save the King Biscuit Blues Festival and restore the name by signing this online petition:
See you there !
-- The Cobalt Rhythm Kings
For more information, to join the Cobalt e-mail list or to book The Cobalt Rhythm Kings, call 203-415-1670 or e-mail: info(at)cobaltrhythmkings.com .
